Out of the five device categories, Apple makes–smartphones, tablets, computers, watches, and digital media players–the last one, digital media players, is probably the category Apple cares least about. Yes, I’m talking about the Apple TV. As great as the device is (I use mine daily) Apple just doesn’t give it as much attention as its does the iPhone and iPad, and even the Apple Watch and Mac. Apple did totally revamp the Apple TV with the fourth generation Apple TV in 2015. That revision added the Apple TV App Store, Siri, and new operating system (tvOS), and a brand new remote.
But since then we really haven’t seen any big updates to the Apple TV. However, if you’re a fan of the Apple TV there may be good news on the horizon. It’s rumored Apple will be announcing new Apple TV hardware at its annual iPhone event next month. The fifth-generation Apple TV is codenamed “J105" and while not radically different than the current Apple TV, is rumored to have some nice new features. We break all of those possible new features down below.
2017 Apple TV: 4K Video
The biggest news is that the next Apple TV will finally support 4K video. This is massive news considering many of Apple’s competitors, like Amazon’s Fire TV now support 4K. Plus, 4K is finally becoming more commonplace, with many streaming services and even youtube offering 4K as the new norm. 4K support for the next Apple TV was first referenced in the leaked HomePod firmware. Then eagle-eyed users began to notice that movies in their iTunes purchase history started showing up with 4K video availability next to their names.
Shortly after that news, a developer found out that you could activate 4K support hidden in the latest beta of tvOS 11, which is the next operating system for the Apple TV. As Macrumors reported:
“tvOS is officially made to run in the standard 1920x1080 HD resolution, but what Troughton-Smith's hack shows is that the Apple TV operating system is perfectly suited to running at double the pixel density (3840x2160), commonly referred to as 4K resolution, thanks to user interface assets like text and icons that are made to scale cleanly given the same aspect ratio.
The simple scale doubling is reminiscent of the 2x iOS asset resolution requirement that Apple introduced back in 2010 with the arrival of Retina displays, and comes at a time when Apple is rumored to be readying a new, fifth-generation Apple TV capable of streaming 4K video.
Just last weekend iOS developer Guilherme Rambo discovered a reference to a 4K HDR display mode in the HomePod's firmware, which has proved a trove of hints related to Apple's upcoming hardware releases. MacRumors subsequently discovered the string J105a in the HomePod firmware, consistent with the fifth-generation Apple TV's internal codename first revealed by Bloomberg in February.”
So, yes, it looks like 4K is finally coming to the Apple TV.
2017 Apple TV: HDR Video
In addition to 4K support the next Apple TV will also support HDR video. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and it allows for a more vivid color pallet in video and games including brighter whites, deeper blacks and more natural colors. HDR is becoming a standard on games console and other media streamers, so it’s nice to see the next Apple TV will support it.
2017 Apple TV: A New CPU
4K support and HDR support is going to require a new CPU you process all that power. We don’t expect the new A11 to show up in the Apple TV, but the A10 Fusion chip is a good possibility.
2017 Apple TV: tvOS 11
Yeah, this isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but the fifth-generation Apple TV will be shipping with tvOS 11, which Apple first previewed in June. The new operating system doesn’t feature any major new changes–mainly refinements and bug fixes, which is why Apple didn’t even demo it onstage at WWDC.
by michaelg via Featured Articles
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